Namikaze Foxes
by Quill and Brush
Summary: When a vixen's sacrifice leaves Naruto in charge of two orphaned fox kits, the Nine Tails takes it upon himself to raise the kits by raising Naruto, giving Naruto something similar to the Inuzuka Clan's beast mimicry and laying the ground work for a new Namikaze clan tradition.
1. Chapter 1

The Village Hidden in the Leaves, Hidden Village of the Land of Fire, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, known as the greatest of the Five. Our story begins here, on October 10, the Nine Tailed Fox Festival, the day where the Leaf Village remembers the sacrifice of the Fourth Hokage and celebrates his victory over the Nine Tailed Fox.

One person, however, was not celebrating, even though he had more reason to celebrate than others. Today was his birthday, you see. His fifth birthday, in fact. He woke up that morning to a small gift outside his apartment, an oddly cute sleeping cap, and things just went downhill from there. After a cold shower and a small breakfast of instant ramen, he left his small apartment on the top floor of a run-down, abandoned building and made his way to one of his hiding spots to wait out the day.

He chose the top of the Hokage Monument. He didn't know why, but he always felt safe and relaxed on top of the stone head of the Fourth Hokage, his hero and role model. He had been coming here every day for a year and a half, ever since he could make the trip from the orphanage and, later on, his apartment.

He had been kicked out of the orphanage that he grew up in, for reasons unknown, a month after he turned four, and the Third Hokage had helped him get his apartment a month later. The Third was one of the few people who had been nice to him in his short life. He didn't know why, but almost all of the people of the village didn't like him. Most just ignored him, however there were a few who hated him outright, and told him so to his face. He didn't like those people.

He spent a lot of time on top of the Fourth's head, mainly because it was a haven away from his bad life. He had found a few fruit bearing trees within a few minutes' walk from the cliff, and ate from them sometimes when he didn't have enough food for lunch, which was often, and was the case today. So he ate a few apples for lunch and continued to watch the festivities across the village with a small, sad frown.

As the sun was setting, the festival began to wind up to its finale. The village would grow dark as the sun set, and would stay dark in a moment of silence before fireworks would go off and bathe the village in their light. After the fireworks ended, the noise and light would fade into nonexistence before the entire village would be lit up and the festival would basically be over. It was an amazing sight, really. Especially when seen from the top of the Hokage Monument.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't be there to see it.

* * *

"There he is!"

"Block the path down so he can't get away!"

"Alright, boys, let's go fox huntin'!"

Our young blond hero, upon hearing this, jumped up and ran. He had enough experience to know that 'fox hunting' was a sport that some of the adults of the village engaged in, and this sport almost always ended up with him running for his life. So he ran. Away from the cliff face, and away from the people. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he couldn't stay where he was, he couldn't go back down, and he couldn't go over the edge. So, he went into the woods that surrounded the one or two buildings that were built up there as evacuation shelters.

The Hidden Leaf Village got its name from the large forest that surrounded it. The forest is thick and fairly monotonous, and thus it's fairly easy to get lost in it. Our young blond hero, wearing only sandals, shorts, and a t-shirt, took off into the woods on the Monument hoping to lose the crowd that began chasing him.

He was mostly successful, as all the civilians and most of the few ninja who were chasing him lost him in the undergrowth. However, one chunin level tracking ninja was able to keep up and follow him through the woods.

The young boy ran and ran, until he could run no more, and he collapsed. As soon as he did, the chunin caught up to him and laughed darkly. "So, the mighty demon finally falls." He continued laughing as he pulled out a kunai. "I can't believe that no one has killed you yet."

Our hero watched, frozen in fear, as the chunin inspected his kunai before stepping towards him.

"This is going to be easy." The chunin raised his kunai and swung it down for the kill…

Only to be interrupted by a red-orange blur. The blur intercepted the kunai and tackled the chunin to the ground. The chunin yelped in surprise, before letting out a gurgle and ceasing movement. The blur approached the boy and revealed itself to be a fox. The fox stopped in front of the boy, just within his reach, and stared at him curiously, head tilted to the side. After a moment, the fox began to walk out of the clearing, glancing back at the boy and gesturing with its head in the direction that it was going.

The boy stood, with some effort, and followed after the fox as it led him through the woods. The fox stopped in front of a rather nondescript bush. As the boy arrived, the fox gestured towards the bush with its head. The boy looked on for a second, confused, before realization struck. "You want me to look in there?" The fox nodded, so the boy stuck his head into the bush. There, in the hollow around the stems, were two young fox kits. The smaller of the two, red-orange body with black face and paw marks with a white tail tip, was curled up right next to the stems. The larger, mostly black with patches of pale orange down its sides and a white tail tip, was standing between the smaller kit and the boy, teeth bared and in a protective stance.

Confused, the boy pulled himself out of the bush and turned to look at the fox that led him there, saying, "What do you want me to…" He trailed off, realizing that the fox was no longer there.

The boy glanced around the area in case the fox had moved, but still couldn't find it. He turned his gaze back to the bush and thought aloud, "What do I do now?"

As if in response, the boy heard a distant voice from behind him, so distant that he couldn't make it out. He turned around to see if he could make out whoever was yelling at him. Seeing nothing, he shrugged and was about to turn back when he heard the same deep voice from behind him again, only slightly closer. The boy turned again, now looking back over top of the bush, and still saw no one. Confused, he called out, "Hello?" After a few moments without a response, the boy shouted again. "Is anybody there?"

He heard the voice again, behind him again, but this time he could make out that the voice, definitely male, was calling the boy's name. "Naruto!"

Turning away from the bush again, Naruto looked around for a person to go with the voice. "Who's there?"

"You can hear me? Good." As the voice was speaking, Naruto heard it get closer and began to spin trying to locate the source of the voice. "Stop spinning!" The voice picked up a hint of desperation. "You won't be able to see me. I'm inside your head." Naruto stopped spinning in confusion and opened his mouth to retort when he was interrupted by the voice. "I'll explain it to you later, but right now that kit needs help."

Naruto nodded. "What do I need to do?"

"Okay. Go back in the bush and get the larger kit to let you help them."

Naruto nodded and went back inside the bush, saying, "I'm not gonna hurt you, I wanna help you two."

The fox kit stared at him suspiciously for several moments, before seemingly coming to a realization and stepping to the side and growling lowly. The voice began again, and Naruto swore that the owner of the voice was nodding. "Good, now listen to me and do exactly as I say." Naruto nodded. "Ask the kits to come out into the open." Naruto did and they both followed him out of the bush. "Now, have the younger one lay on her side with her head to your right." Again, the voice's instructions were followed, with the other kit watching warily. "Now, place your right hand on her shoulder and your left hand on her side." Once he did, the voice continued. "Now push chakra into her through your left hand and say 'Joining of Two Lives'."

Here, Naruto paused. "What?"

The voice sighed, and Naruto felt it was shaking its head. "You don't know what chakra is, do you?" When Naruto shook his head, the voice sighed again. "I don't have time to teach you that now, so I need you to give me permission to take over for a moment."

Naruto, confused, nodded and said, "Sure, I give you permission."

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a pull on the back of his head and was unable to fight the sudden sensation. After a short period of discomfort, his world became numb except for sight and sound. He felt a powerful feeling rise up from his gut through his left arm and left his body through his left palm. As he felt himself say "Joining of Two Lives," the kit underneath his hands bent her neck and bit his wrist. He felt the pain, but could do nothing about. As quickly as the pain came, it left, leaving behind a sensation of warmth that spread from his wrist down his hand and up his forearm.

The warmth continued for several moments before it began to increase and become nearly unbearable, yet still Naruto was unable to do anything. Naruto watched as a black tattoo began to take shape on the back of his forearm and spread from the site of the bite. It took the shape of a fox with the head on the back of his hand, jaws open and ears towards his thumb, and the body curling around to have the tail at the crook of his elbow.

The heat died down and the kit let go. Naruto felt himself withdraw his arms and inspect his right arm. He noticed a matching mark on underside of his arm, the ears again towards his thumb and the tail ending just below his elbow. Naruto felt sensation return to his body and began to make sure everything worked right, flexing his arms and hands. The voice returned, now reaching the volume of a normal conversation. "Sorry about that, kit. Now, take these two with you back to your house. I'll explain everything when we get there."

Naruto nodded and picked up the kit that was laying on her side in front of him and gestured to the other, telling it to hop up on his shoulder. Once it did, Naruto stood and made his way back to his apartment, his fatigue from earlier having washed away.

* * *

The group made it to their destination with little trouble and Naruto set the smaller kit on his bed and the larger kit jumped down next to her. Naruto watched them settle down for the night before moving to his kitchen table and got comfortable before saying, "Alright, mysterious voice in my head, what's going on?"

The voice chuckled. _'Well, first off, my name's Kurama, not 'mysterious voice'. Secondly, you don't have to talk out loud for me to hear you, you just have to think it at me.'_

_'Like this?'_

Kurama chuckled. _'Yes, like that. Now, I'm going to pull you into your mindscape, and we'll be able to talk for a while without losing that time in the real world.'_

Naruto nodded. _'Okay.'_ He felt the same pull on the back of his head, and the next time he blinked, he opened his eyes to find himself in a large dank sewer. He looked around, taking in the scenery. The walls appeared to be made of concrete and there were several inches of standing water covering the entire surface of the floor. Along the ceiling, there were three pipes: one was a deep, luminescent blue, the one in the middle was a very pale, almost grey, blue, and the last one was a deep, menacing red and was significantly larger than the other two but was not nearly as full. The pipe in the middle was flowing in the opposite direction as the other two.

"Kit, follow the red pipeline to its source."

Naruto glanced around, looking to see if Kurama was anywhere to be seen. "Kurama? Where are you?"

Kurama chuckled. "Just follow the red pipeline to its source, kit. I'll be waiting for you there."

Naruto nodded. "Alright, I'm on my way." He began walking and began thinking about everything he had gone through that evening when something stood out to him. "Kurama? Why do you keep calling me 'kit'?"

There was a relatively long period of silence before Kurama spoke again. "I'll tell you when you get here."

Naruto paused, having heard Kurama's hesitation, but ignored it for the moment and continued through the sewers.

Naruto turned a corner and entered a large room. The floor was still covered by water, but the walls were now much farther apart and the ceiling was much higher than it had been. Three of the walls were the same concrete as before, but the far wall seemed to be one side of a cage. What appeared to be steel bars bigger around than Naruto was tall stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and the light that had been present the entire time Naruto had been there didn't reach past a few feet behind the bars.

As Naruto crossed the threshold, an intense feeling of foreboding washed over him and he froze, looking frantically for some relief.

"Calm yourself, kit," Kurama said, his voice floating from the darkness past the bars. "I will not hurt you."

After a moment, Naruto gained control of his breathing and nodded. Kurama continued. "Come closer to the cage and we can talk."

Naruto nodded before making his way across the room. While walking, he wondered aloud, "Why are you in a cage?"

Kurama sighed. "I'll explain all this in a moment. Just sit down and get comfortable." When Naruto got right up to the cage, he sat down and propped himself up on his hands, the standing water covering his legs. "Alright. First of all, my name is Kurama, which I have already told you. However, you are one of the very few who knows my name. To the rest of the world, I am known as… the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Kurama paused, waiting for a reaction from Naruto, who was currently frozen in shock. After a moment, Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the darkness lifted and the Fox was fully revealed to him.

Kurama sighed, once again. "I'm not going to hurt you. You have nothing to fear from me."

Naruto was still having trouble forming words, but was staring at the giant fox with rapt attention. "How…? Why…? What?"

Kurama gave a small, sad chuckle at Naruto's floundering. "I was sealed inside you, hence the cage, by the Fourth Hokage on the day of your birth. I was controlled by a man with the Sharingan and forced to attack the Leaf Village. By the time I came to my senses, I was already sealed inside you. Do you understand?"

Naruto scratched his head. "Kinda?"

Kurama chuckled again. "Well, it's a start. We can talk about it more later once you understand more about the ninja arts. Now, I've been watching the world through your eyes for the past several months, and I've looked into your memories, so I know a lot about you. I also know why the Village doesn't like you."

Kurama had not intended to pause there, but he was interrupted by a loud cry of "You do!?" from Naruto. "Will you tell me? How can I fix it? What-"

"Kit!" This cut Naruto off so that Kurama could continue. "I know, and I'll tell you. I am the reason why most of the Village doesn't like you. They know that I am sealed in you and don't want anything to do with me because I attacked them a few years ago. They don't know that I was being controlled, so they think that I did it of my own free will."

"So they blame me for everything you did?" Naruto wondered innocently. "When they shouldn't even be blaming you?" Kurama nodded and was about to respond, but was cut off. "That's so stupid!"

Naruto was about to continue but was stopped by the fox's deep chuckle that soon escalated into booming laughter. After he calmed down, Kurama began again. "Thank you for that, kit. It's been many years since I laughed so hard." Naruto began to retort, but Kurama raised a hand-like paw to stop him. "I'm not laughing at you. Your response was just too innocent, and it made me laugh. While that is true, you can't really hold it against them. They don't know that it wasn't me." Naruto nodded, but still seemed annoyed. "Now, let's move onto your new fox siblings."

"Siblings?"

"Yes, the two fox kits that you brought home. I will not let you consider them pets, and you're not old enough to be their father, so they'll be your brother and sister. The younger of the two, the female, was too young to be away from her mother, that fox who saved you. In order to keep her alive, I pushed your chakra into her using a jutsu called 'Joining of Two Lives'. This jutsu basically merges the life forces of two beings and gives each party some abilities of the other. In case you hadn't noticed, you now have two ear-shaped tufts of hair sticking up off the top of your head. You also gained enhanced senses, you can understand fox-speak, and you will be able to channel chakra to your fingers and grow claws. The little kit will now be able to transform into a human form, use chakra like you will in both forms, and may be able to speak human language eventually." Naruto nodded, slightly overwhelmed. "After you leave here, you should think about names for the two." Naruto nodded again.

"Now that I've finally made contact with you, I plan on helping you get stronger. Would that be okay with you?" Naruto perked up and nodded vigorously. "Good, now, we'll talk about that tomorrow. Right now, you should get a good night's rest. You'll need it for tomorrow." Naruto nodded one more time and the next time he blinked, he opened his eyes to see his apartment.

Glancing around to see that nothing had changed, Naruto stretched and stood to get ready for bed. After going through his usual routine, he changed into his pajamas, a simple white t-shirt and black shorts, and crawled into bed, his fox sister immediately curling up next to him.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I just wanted to say thanks for all the positive reviews, and that I do have plans. I have no idea when the next chapter will come out, so please be patient. Thanks again!**

* * *

Naruto woke to the sun shining on his face. Groaning, he moved a hand to cover his eyes. After a moment, he noticed that there was a strange, warm weight on his chest. Groaning once more, he cracked open an eyelid to see what it was. What he found was a pair of blue eyes with slit pupils staring back at him.

After staring into the eyes for several moments, Naruto blinked once and closed his eyes before rubbing them to clear them. Opening his eyes again, Naruto saw the same eyes again, only this time, they were surrounded by an orange, white, and black foxy face. He just continued to stare, trying to clear the sleep from his mind. Just as he brought last night to the front of his mind and realized that he was looking at the small fox kit he saved, she tilted her head to the side cutely and squeaked out, "What is it?"

At this, Naruto blinked several times before mumbling, "You talked."

The kit, hearing this, tilted her head the other way, before confusedly inquiring, "What?"

Naruto now grinned excitedly. "You just said something, and I understood you!"

The kit's jaw dropped, before she grinned. "Really?" She sat up.

Naruto nodded with excitement. "Yeah!"

Both their grins grew until it split their faces. "That is so cool!" they exclaimed in unison. The kit jumped off of her perch and onto the bed, allowing Naruto to sit up. He hopped to his feet and opened his arms wide, into which the kit jumped. She climbed up his arm to perch on his shoulder. Once she got settled, Naruto almost skipped to his kitchen, so happy was he that he now had a friend to talk to.

Entering the kitchen the two of them were greeted by the third occupant of the apartment. The darker fox kit was sitting on the table, seemingly waiting for them, and grumbling lowly. Both of the others were able to make it out, however. "Finally… I've been waiting here forever."

"Well, geez," Naruto said in response. "I'm sorry you're such an early riser."

The darker kit snorted. "Oh, ha ha, very…" He trailed off for a moment, before looking back at Naruto with a tilted head and confusion in his eyes. "Wait… You can understand me?"

Naruto chuckled and was about to respond when he was beaten to the punch. "Yeah!" exclaimed the smaller kit. "Isn't that so cool?" She jumped down onto the table next to the still confused fox kit. "I can't wait to tell mom that I made a friend!"

At this, the other kit seemed to almost deflate. Turning to Naruto, he asked, with a considerably darker tone, "How did you find us?"

Naruto, not sensing the change in mood, looked off in thought. "Well, I was being chased and a fox jumped in to save me. It then led me off into the woods and to you two."

The larger kit nodded. "And what happened to that fox?"

"Well, I didn't actually see. After I found you, it just… wasn't there anymore."

The larger kit nodded and sighed. "Little one," he started, finally drawing the smaller kit's attention. "I don't think your mother is coming back."

This drew two confused "What!?"s from the other two occupants of the room. The smaller kit looked on the edge of tears, and Naruto began to protest. "What? But tha-"

_"He's right, kit,"_ he was interrupted by the voice of Kurama in his head. _"You didn't notice it, but when she saved you, she took that ninja's kunai to the chest. It's custom with foxes to go off by oneself when the time has come to travel to the Pure World."_

Naruto was about to respond when the teary voice of the smaller kit drew him out of his thoughts. "Friend?" she asked, looking at the other kit. "What are we going to do now?"

In response, he looked at Naruto. "Well, little one, your mother led the tall one to us. I'd guess that means that she wants him to take care of us."

This gave Naruto pause. _'I don't know anything about taking care of foxes!'_

_"Don't worry, kit,"_ Kurama's voice responded. _"I'll help you."_

The younger kit looked up at him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Well, brother Naruto? Can we stay here with you?"

"Naruto?" the other kit questioned.

Naruto drew himself up. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" he exclaimed. "And I'm gonna be the next Hokage! Believe it!"

_"Interesting," _Kurama mused from inside Naruto's head. _"It seems the Joining has allowed her to instinctively know what she should call you."_

Naruto's face contorted in confusion. _'What?'_

_"It seems that there was an effect of the Joining that I did not predict. You never told them your name, but the little vixen knew what to call you,"_ Kurama elaborated. _"Look at her and try to come up with a name. See if it works the other way around."_

Naruto nodded and looked at the teary eyed vixen staring back at him in concern and muttered the first thing that came to mind. "Tsumi." The newly named Tsumi perked up slightly, instinctively reacting to the name and relieved that Naruto was alright. "Of course you two can stay here. You two are family now; I would never make you leave."

Tsumi immediately brightened up, although there were still tears in her eyes, and jumped into Naruto's arms and snuggled into his chest. Naruto smiled at that and hugged her closer, and the other kit watched the two bond with a smile. Even Kurama smiled at this heartwarming scene.

After several moments of smiling and hugging and snuggling, the mood was ruined by the gurgling of Naruto's stomach. _"Put Tsumi on the table and sit down, kit. You need to tell them about me."_ Naruto nodded and as he was following his instructions, Kurama continued. _"After that, we'll see about breakfast and then training."_

Naruto looked at his two new houseguests for a moment before beginning. "Before we get to breakfast, I need to tell you something." Seeing that he still had their attention, Naruto continued. "There's a giant fox in my head. His name is Kurama and he's going to be telling me how to take care of you and how to train myself." He paused for a moment. "And probably you, too. We can talk to each other without actually talking, so if I look like I'm thinking hard, then we're probably talking."

When the two kits looked like they understood and accepted, Kurama spoke up. _"Now that that's out of the way, let's move to food. I've looked into your memories and noticed that about the only thing you eat is ramen, and most of that is this instant junk that has very little nutritional value."_ At this, Naruto was getting excited at the thought of ramen, but the last part of that sentence confused him. _"I'm going to be helping you eat better. And before you ask how anything can be better than ramen, I mean better for you, not better tasting."_ Naruto closed his mouth from the beginnings of his protest and nodded, if slightly reluctantly. _"Now, make yourself a cup of ramen now to tide you over until later."_

Naruto nodded again, this time more enthusiastically, and set off to begin fixing his ramen, leaving the kits with a "Stay here, be right back.""Alright, I'm at the forest, what do I do now?" Naruto was indeed standing at the edge of a rather large and out of the way patch of woodland close to the edge of the village, one kit on his shoulder and one kit at his feet.

_"Now,"_ Kurama replied. _"You hunt. For right now, you only need enough for breakfast for the three of you, so a rabbit or two will do. After you catch them, I'll teach you to skin, dress, and cook it. After breakfast, we'll start the basics of your training."_ Naruto nodded and, after relaying Kurama's instructions to the kits, took off into the woods after breakfast.

* * *

Naruto was now sitting at his kitchen table, finishing off his plate of roasted rabbit, with two fox kits sitting on the table staring at him. He was also listening to Kurama explain the plan for the rest of the day. _"Now that you three have eaten, and you have enough for lunch in the refrigerator, it's time to start training. We'll work on accessing your chakra here in your apartment until lunch, eat, then go to the same area as before and work on the main technique that you gained from the Joining."_

Naruto nodded as he swallowed his last bite and stood up to put the dishes in his sink. _'What do you want me to do, Kurama-sensei?'_

_"Tell the other kit that, because he can't mold chakra, he should start exercising by running thirty laps around the room."_ Naruto nodded and relayed the instructions, sending the kit into motion. _"Now, you and Tsumi are going to sit on your bed in a relaxing position. You are going to be doing something akin to meditation."_ Naruto nodded and, dragging Tsumi along, walked over to his bed, sitting cross legged with his palms on his knees. Tsumi lied down onto her stomach with her head on her front paws. _"Good, now, I'm going to give you some advice and I want you to pass it on to Tsumi."_ At Naruto's nod, Kurama continued. _"You're going to be drawing on your chakra. You need to reach into yourself, and when you do, you will feel a warmth. You need to pull that warmth back out with you. Now don't worry if it takes a little while; once you do it this time, you'll know the feeling and be able to do it much more easily, but the first time is always the hardest."_ Naruto nodded and repeated that to Tsumi, and the two of them began the exercise.

After roughly a minute of little to no activity, the room became bathed in a blue glow, radiating from the stunned forms of Naruto and Tsumi. _'Kurama-sensei? I thought you said this would take a while.'_

_"I did, kit,"_ Kurama muttered, also slightly stunned. _"It might have not taken as long because I channeled your chakra for you last night and your bodies already knew the feeling, or it might be because you have rather large chakra reserves."_ Naruto made a noise of understanding, even though he barely did, and relayed the discussion to Tsumi, who had much the same reaction. _"Well,"_ Kurama continued. _"I was planning on this taking most of the hour left until lunch, but I guess we can move on. Next, chakra control, training your bodies to use smaller amounts of chakra. You wouldn't happen to have any leaves lying around your apartment, would you?"_

Naruto shook his head. _'I don't think so, no.'_

Kurama sighed. _"How about scraps of paper?"_ Another negative. _"What about old instant ramen wrappers?"_ This time, Naruto responded in the affirmative, somewhat sheepishly. _"Go find two and I'll get started explaining the exercise."_ Once Naruto started moving, Kurama continued. _"You and Tsumi are each going to have one, and you are going to practice keeping them stuck to your body using chakra. The theory is pretty simple, the chakra will react to your will as this is one of the most basic applications of chakra. The practice, however, can be a little more trying, especially with your untrained reserves. You will try to keep the wrapper on your forehead using nothing but chakra, Tsumi is going to lay on her side on her wrapper and then stand up with it stuck to her, also using only chakra."_ Naruto gave Tsumi a wrapper, repeated the explanation, and began working. _"You'll work on this until noon, and this time, you shouldn't be able to complete it."_

* * *

_"Alright,"_ Kurama began. _"Now that you've unlocked your chakra and eaten lunch, we'll start working on your first technique."_ Naruto nodded and glanced around the wooded area he had hunted in that morning. _"This technique will enhance your senses to the equivalent of a fox's. It will also give you claws on both your fingers and toes, and give you the ability to use all four limbs equally. This technique will be the basis of your fighting style. While I teach you how to activate this technique, tell the kits to get warmed up. Laps, stretches, and things."_ Naruto nodded and relayed the instructions, and the kits moved to follow them. _"Now, focus your chakra towards the back of your mind; not the physical back of your head, but the more instinctual parts of your mind."_

Naruto nodded and began to focus his chakra. After a minute or so with no results, Kurama gave one more piece of advice. _"It can be easier to channel chakra if you use the Tiger hand sign. Put your thumbs, index, and middle fingers together pointing straight up, with your remaining fingers meshed together."_ Naruto followed his instructions and almost immediately noticed a difference in his chakra flow. After several minutes of standing there, chakra flaring slightly, Naruto began to notice a difference. The noises in the background began to become louder, and the scents of the forest and the foxes exercising jumped out at him. He felt a tingling sensation in his fingers, toes, and mouth, his mouth feeling fuller than it was a moment before. Finally, he began to feel uncomfortable standing like he was and began leaning forward, getting closer to comfort.

_"Kit,"_ Kurama's voice echoed in his mind. _"You're there, kit. Drop the hand sign and get onto all fours."_ Nodding and grunting, Naruto did as he was told, landing on both palms and rising up to the balls of his feet.

"Kurama-sensei?" Naruto's voice was now little more than a growl. "Did I do it right?" he asked, confused, as he inspected his newly clawed hand. His question gained the attention of the two kits who were stretching, and they walked up to Naruto, intrigued.

Kurama chuckled. _"Yes, kit, you did it right. Tell the kits to spar with each other for a while, while we go over the katas for your new taijutsu style."_

* * *

_"Now that it's sundown, kit"_ Kurama began, interrupting Naruto's light spar against both kits, earning him a tackle to the gut from the larger one.

After landing with an oomph, Naruto sighed and grumbled, "Thanks for the distraction, Kurama-sensei," earning chuckles from all three foxes.

_"You're welcome, kit,"_ Kurama replied after getting his laughter under control. _"Now that it's sundown, it's time to go hunting. Use your Feral Jutsu - I still really like that name, by the way - and catch as much as you can."_ Naruto nodded and relayed the instructions to the kits before focusing chakra towards his instincts and dropping onto all fours. He glanced behind him at the kits and, seeing they were ready, dashed off into the woods.

* * *

_"Not a bad haul, kit,"_ Kurama said. Naruto and the kits were leaving the woods dragging a small deer and three rabbits. _"Especially for your first hunt with claws."_

Naruto smiled at the praise. _'Thanks, Kurama-sensei!'_

Kurama smirked. _"No problem, kit. Just don't let it go to your head."_ He chuckled as Naruto let out an indignant huff. _"Alright, when you get back to the apartment, you'll skin and dress these and then cook tonight's supper. After that we'll do some mental exercises."_

* * *

Naruto stepped out of the bathroom, the steam from his recently finished shower billowing out behind him. He had just finished preparing to go to sleep, having changed into his pajamas. He turned his gaze towards the bed, where the kits had retired an hour or so earlier and likely fallen asleep very shortly thereafter. He hadn't noticed; he was meditating at the time. He made his way over, exhausted from his first day of training, and crawled into bed to not disturb the kits. He flopped down and was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Tsumi, still asleep, rolled over and curled into the warmth that was Naruto's side. Almost dreamily, she began to make a noise that sounded vaguely like a purr.

The other kit curled up against Naruto's calf and sighed contentedly.

Naruto instinctively brought an arm up and rested his hand on Tsumi's back, smiling in his sleep.

Kurama smiled at the heartwarming scene, before he too curled up to sleep for the night in Naruto's mindscape.


	3. Chapter 3

Their routine began the next day. Naruto would get up at 7:00 and get ready for the day, including eating breakfast and preparing lunch, by 8:00. They would then go to their training grounds and spend the morning doing various physical exercises, including taijutsu practice. After a lunch break, Naruto and Tsumi would begin their chakra training, mainly chakra control and getting Naruto able to use his Feral Jutsu with little more than a thought. As the sun began to set, they would set out on their evening hunt, then return to the apartment after an hour to clean their kills and prepare dinner. After dinner, Naruto would work on various mental exercises before getting ready for bed at 10:00, the kits going to bed earlier than that.

After three days of this new normal, the larger kit, normally quiet and relaxed during the lunch break, decided to join in the conversation.

"I don't want to be rude or anything," he started in a lull in the conversation, sounding slightly hesitant. "But I'm getting kinda tired of just watching you do all these things in the afternoon."

Naruto and Tsumi turned to look at the other kit, and, after a moment, Naruto responded. "Kurama-sensei told me to tell you that you don't have the chakra to do the things we're doing. I can do them because of Kurama-sensei, and Tsumi can do them because she's Joined with me." Naruto paused for a moment, before continuing. "Sensei says that if you find a ninja or ninja-in-training, and you want to Join with them and they want to Join with you, he'll teach the two of you the same thing he's teaching us."

At that, the kit nodded and fell back into silence. After a minute or two, the conversation between the other two picked back up.

* * *

Later that day, having skipped their normal hunt, the trio was making their way across town. About halfway to their apartment, the larger kit froze, staring down the alleyway that they were in towards the street. After a moment, he took off down the alleyway, only then drawing the attention of the other two.

As he made it to the end of the alley, he ran into a child who looked to be about Naruto's age. The two hit the ground with a squeak.

Naruto and Tsumi broke out of their stupor and followed after him. When they caught up, Naruto offered a hand to help the other kid up. "I'm sorry about that, he doesn't act like this most of the time."

The child glanced up at Naruto and nodded, taking his hand and letting him help her up. "That's okay," she started quietly, letting Naruto hear that she was a girl. "I like animals." She looked over at the kit that bowled her over and began fussing over and cooing at the 'cute, little fox', much to his, hidden, delight.

As she did this, Naruto took in her appearance. She looked to be about his height, maybe an inch or two shorter, with short cut dark blue hair and two bangs framing her face. She had pale skin and very nearly white eyes. Her outfit consisted of a lightweight beige kimono, dark pants that just barely peeked out from the bottom of her kimono, and a pair of black casual sandals.

After watching the two for a few minutes, Naruto decided to bring himself back to her attention. "Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! What's your name?"

This made her look up and stop pampering the kit. After a moment, she blushed and looked down, twiddling her fingers. "M-my name is Hinata H-Hyūga."

"It's nice to meet you, Hinata," Naruto said. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a yip from the kit. He listened to the kit for a moment as the kit yipped and barked and growled. Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Really? Okay then." Turning his attention back to Hinata, Naruto relayed his message. "He says that he wants to ask you something." Seeing he had her attention, he continued. "Do you have a few minutes? This could take a while."

She nodded again and they went back into the alley and sat against one of the buildings side by side, the kits following behind and settling on the children's laps, Tsumi with Naruto. Naruto then proceeded to tell Hinata what had happened the last week or so. He introduced Tsumi and explained about the giant fox in his head, how he met the kits and Joined with Tsumi, and how he had been training. He then told Hinata that the kit was looking for someone to Join with, that Kurama-sensei would train whoever Joined with him, and that the kit said that there was something about Hinata that drew him to her and that the kit wanted to ask her if she would be willing to Join with him. Naruto then told her what she could expect to experience during and gain from the Joining, with help from Kurama.

After listening to his explanation, Hinata sat in silence for a moment to try and absorb all the information, scratching the kit's head. After several minutes of silence, Hinata began, "I want to think about it more, but it's getting late." And it was. The sun had dropped from just setting when they met to completely below the horizon, the sky black. "Can I sleep on it and meet you tomorrow with an answer?"

Naruto agreed and they decided to meet there the next day at noon.

As Hinata left, Naruto waved after her, thinking, _'She seemed familiar.'_

_"Ask her tomorrow when you see her. I'll give you most of the day off tomorrow to talk to her and help her get started if she decides to, but I still expect you to do your physical exercises in the morning and hunting at night. Don't worry about your taijutsu or chakra practice tomorrow."_

Naruto nodded and then led the two kits back to the apartment.

* * *

When Hinata arrived at the alleyway, Naruto and the kits had been there for a few minutes. As she approached them, Naruto stood up, picking Tsumi up as she was sleeping lightly, and the other kit dashed up to Hinata, happy to see her.

"Hi, Hinata!" Naruto greeted as Tsumi woke and climbed up on his shoulder.

Hinata blushed slightly, bending down at her knees to scratch the other kit behind the ears. "H-hello, Naruto."

Naruto smiled at her, before frowning for a second. "Hinata, have we met before?"

Hinata blushed even more than before and started fiddling with her fingers. Naruto finally noticed how red she was. "A-ano… Yes, N-Naruto. A few months ago, you s-saved me from some b-bullies…"

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before realization crossed his face. "Oh yeah! I remember those eyes!" At this, Hinata looked down, afraid that her new friend would make fun of her eyes. "I remember thinking that they were really cool!" Now, Hinata looked up, blush growing even more, shocked at his words. "Ne, Hinata, are you alright?" Naruto asked. "You're really red."

Hinata gasped. "A-a-ano… Yes, N-N-N-Naruto… I'm f-f-fine…"

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" At her nod, he continued. "Okay, just wanting to make sure…" After a moment of silence that Hinata used to get herself under control, Naruto continued. "Well, have you decided?"

Hinata took another moment to compose herself before responding. "N-Naruto, would you show me your Feral Jutsu?"

"Sure! No problem!" Naruto paused for a moment, gaining a thoughtful look. "Kurama-sensei says that we need to go to my training ground first, something about keeping it a secret." Hinata nodded, and Naruto led her away, Tsumi still on his shoulder and the other kit trotting along beside Hinata.

* * *

"Here it is, my training ground," Naruto began. "Now that we're here, I can show you my Feral Jutsu." At Hinata's nod, he got to work. He began to focus his chakra, now being able to do it without the use of hand signs. After a few moments, Naruto began to change, growing claws and fangs, his pupils elongating into slits, and dropping onto all fours. "Well, here it is," he began, with a slight growl in his voice. "My Feral Jutsu."

Hinata nodded. "A-ano, can you… C-can you show me something that y-you can do with it?"

Naruto nodded and ran towards a tree before climbing it using only his claws. After he jumped down, he called Tsumi over and they began a light taijutsu spar. After that, Naruto returned to standing in front of Hinata. "According to Kurama-sensei, once I get better mastery of it, I'll be able to transform specific parts, like grow a single claw, or change things, like making my claws longer or sharper. I haven't gotten that far yet, though." After a moment of watching Hinata think, he dropped his transformation and stood back up.

After a minute of silence and thinking, Hinata nodded, looking determined. "Alright, I've decided."

When she didn't continue, Naruto spoke up. "Well, what did you decide?"

Hinata blushed again. "A-ano… I d-decided that I w-want to do the Joining." At this, Naruto and the still unnamed kit cheered and the kit tackled Hinata to the ground, earning a squeak for his efforts.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Naruto cried out. "Let's do this thing!" Before he could physically drag Hinata to… do something, he was stopped by Kurama's voice in his head. "Oh… Kurama-sensei says that we should have lunch first. Have you eaten lunch yet, Hinata?" Getting a negative response, Naruto continued. "Well, we brought our normal lunch, but we brought enough to share if you'd like to join us."

Hinata blushed even more. "I brought a lunch, too. With enough to share." She pulled a small scroll out of her pocket and unrolled it, revealing an intricate design printed on it in black. She focused some chakra into it and, after a poof of smoke, lifted up a large bento box.

And so they combined their lunches and ate, with Hinata explaining how she was taught to use storage scrolls and Naruto proclaiming that Hinata was the best cook ever. After they had finished eating and sealing the leftovers, Naruto began to relay Kurama's instructions. "Do you know how to use chakra?" After seeing her affirmative, he continued. "Okay, the kit needs to lay down on his left side, and Hinata will put her right hand on his shoulder and her left hand on his hip." They followed the instructions and he continued. "Now, Hinata is going to push chakra into the kit through her left hand while saying 'Joining of Two Lives'. From there, it will be automatic. I warn you, it might hurt, but only for a minute or two, and the rewards outweigh the pain."

Hinata nodded and a look of concentration crossed her face. "Joining of Two Lives." Naruto watched, this time from the outside, as the kit reached up and bit Hinata's wrist and the mark spread up her forearm. He also noticed that her hair grew up into two earlike tufts. Once all the visible changes had occurred, there was a moment of still silence, before Hinata cried out and leaned back away from the kit, who whined softly at the same time. After they settled down, Hinata and the kit looked at each other and smiled, before Hinata turned to look over the mark on her right arm.

After giving them a moment, Naruto spoke up. "Kurama-sensei says to give him a name; he's tired of always referring to him as the other kit."

Hinata nodded and looked over the kit, before whispering the first name that came to her mind. "Kimaru…" The newly named Kimaru responded to the name by jumping at Hinata and licking her face repeatedly, making her giggle. Naruto, seeing and hearing this, decided that he was very glad Kimaru chose Hinata to Join with.

Kurama interrupted his thoughts. _"Let's do something for the rest of the day. Let's get her started on the Feral Jutsu."_ Naruto nodded and relayed Kurama's instructions.

* * *

They spent the rest of the afternoon working on helping Hinata get the Feral Jutsu and basics of taijutsu down. In that single afternoon, they discovered that Naruto was stronger and faster than Hinata, but less flexible. Hinata had her first hunt that night, and then Hinata and Naruto went their separate ways, Tsumi on Naruto's shoulder and Kimaru trotting along next to Hinata.

The next morning, Naruto and Tsumi were in the middle of their usual routine when Hinata and Kimaru arrived. Hinata's pale eyes were red and her cheeks were tearstained, and Kimaru was downcast and subdued. When Naruto noticed this, he cried out "Hinata?" and dashed over, Tsumi quickly following. "Are you okay? What happened?"

As soon as Naruto got within Hinata's reach, she wrapped her arms around him and started crying into his chest. "Oh, N-Naruto, it's h-horrible!" she sobbed. "M-my father said that he w-would d-d-disown me if I kept Kimaru. He told me th-that if I d-didn't get r-rid of him, th-then I c-can't be a H-Hyūga anym-more. I d-don't even w-wanna think ab-bout not having Kimaru with m-me."

Naruto thought for a moment, unconsciously rubbing Hinata's back, before he said anything. "Well," he began. "If your father says you can't be a Hyūga and keep Kimaru, but you aren't going to give Kimaru up, then I guess you can't be a Hyūga anymore."

"What?" Hinata gasped. "How can you say that? If I'm not a Hyūga, then I won't be there to take care of my baby sister!"

"I'm sure they'll find someone else to take care of her."

"I won't be able to be with my family, though."

"They don't seem very nice if they can't accept something as small as getting a new friend. They don't seem very much like family to me."

"But… But… Where will I stay? If I'm not a Hyūga, then I can't stay at the Hyūga compound."

"Well, if you can't be a Hyūga, then you can be an Uzumaki!" Seeing her confused look, Naruto continued. "You said that you couldn't stay at the Hyūga compound if you aren't a Hyūga, so instead, you can be an Uzumaki and stay at my apartment!"

At this, Hinata blushed, both at the declaration and at the realization of her position. "A-ano… As long as you're sure; I don't want to be a bother."

"Of course not!" Naruto scoffed. "My apartment may be a little small, but as long as you don't mind, I don't mind. Plus, Kimaru's family, and since you're Joined with him, that makes you family, too." Touched by his sentiment, Hinata hugged him tighter and started crying into his chest again, this time with tears of joy mixed in with those of sorrow.

After a minute or two, Hinata stopped crying as much and holding him as tightly. Naruto took this as his cue to speak. "Well, let's go get you settled in my – no, our – apartment." Hinata smiled at that. "Once we get there, you can leave Kimaru with me while you go get anything you want from your house and then we can really make it into _our_ apartment." Hinata hugged him tightly again, this time not crying, but smiling widely.

* * *

Naruto led Hinata to his apartment and showed her around, before she left, alone, to retrieve her clothes and other objects of value. She returned a while later and he helped her get settled in. They spent the rest of the day talking and getting to know one another before going hunting that evening. After dinner and the daily mental exercises, and much deliberation, it was decided that all four would share the one bed in the apartment.

Naruto let Hinata take the bathroom first, so when he finished with his nightly routine, she was already asleep in bed, curled up on her side in a rather cute manner, clad only in a large t-shirt and panties. Naruto, in his usual shorts and t-shirt, crawled under the covers. Once he was settled, Hinata rolled over and cuddled into his side. When all was said and done, Naruto lay on his back with Hinata on one side and Tsumi on the other both curled into his side with their head on his chest, with Kimaru curled up between the two humans' ankles.

* * *

**A/N: There are a few things that I want to do here. The first is thank everyone for their reviews. I read everyone of them and take them all into consideration.**

**The second is to address some things that come up in the reviews about the Joining of Two Lives. It is just that, a link between two creatures. It cannot be used on or by the same life form twice.**

**The third is to say some things about the Feral Jutsu. This is a technique that is usable to anyone, it draws on a persons instincts to enhance their combat abilities. It was once a well known technique that didn't really have a name shortly after the Sage of Six Paths started ninjutsu and chakra usage. It has since been replaced and all but forgotten by the general populace. Kurama knows it because he watched it being discovered.**

**I think that's it, so I'll see you next time. Keep those reviews coming!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks for the concern about the chapter disappearing, I accidentally hit submit before the chapter was finished.**

* * *

After these few days of excitement, the newly made quartet settled back into a routine. This routine was much the same as the trio's previous one, except with Hinata and Kimaru joining Naruto and Tsumi in everything they did. Hinata was greatly intrigued and inspired, although she didn't quite know it, by Naruto's near limitless stamina. They were able to continue this routine for almost a week before the next important event.

* * *

"Happy late birthday, Naruto!" exclaimed a voice, wizened with age yet with a hint of great power, as the door to Naruto's apartment opened to reveal a relatively short man with graying hair and goatee, wearing white robes with red accents and a hat of the same colors – the ceremonial outfit of the Hokage. He stepped into the apartment, flanked by two ANBU, saying, "I'm sorry I couldn't come by earlier than this, but…" He trailed off, seeing the distinct lack of an energetic blond. After glancing around quickly, looking over the surprisingly clean apartment, he called out, "Naruto?" He waited several seconds for a response, before pondering where the boy might be at eleven thirty in the morning.

The first conclusion he came to? Nowhere good.

"Dog, find him. Lizard, go with Dog and report back to me once you find him." The dog-masked ANBU proceeded to return to the exterior of the apartment already using his enhanced sense of smell to find a trail. The lizard-masked ANBU nodded from the hallway. "Tiger, Hawk, search the apartment for anything that could tell us what happened." The two remaining ANBU canvased the apartment, one coming from the hallway.

Dog very quickly found a trail and left, Lizard close behind him. Hawk called out from near the bed. "Sir, there are signs of more than one person having slept in this bed for at least a few days."

This caused the Hokage to raise a brow. "Can you tell how many?"

"From the dent in the mattress, I'd say Naruto and another child his age, however there are five different types of hairs: short and blond, which I assume to be Naruto; longer and dark, I'd call it blue; the other three are about the same length, shorter than the blonde, white, black, and a reddish-orange. Interestingly enough, not all of the hairs are on or around the pillows, only the blond and blue."

The Hokage hummed. "That is interesting… Are there any traces of chakra in the air that could help to determine who has been here?"

Hawk was about to respond but she was interrupted by Tiger, who was standing in front of the open fridge. "Um, sir, you might want to come look at this."

The Hokage and Hawk both stepped over to flank Tiger. "He has a refrigerator full of meat?" Tiger nodded. "See if you can't figure out what kind of meat it is." Tiger nodded again, and the Hokage turned to Hawk. "Now, chakra?"

Hawk nodded and made a hand sign. "Naruto's chakra is the most abundant, however it seems stronger, almost as if he unlocked it. It's also less dense, as if he hasn't been spending much time here recently, although he slept here last night. There's also a second chakra signature here, weaker than Naruto's, but it also seems to be unlocked. There are also trace amounts of… animal chakra?"

The Hokage paused for a moment, thinking this over, when Tiger spoke up. "This seems to be wild game. There's some deer and pheasant and a lot of rabbit."

As the Hokage was taking in this new information, Lizard body flickered into the apartment. "We found him."

* * *

The Hokage came out of his body flicker next to Dog with Lizard and Tiger following shortly; Hawk had stayed behind at Naruto's apartment to examine the room more thoroughly. The four were in a tree at the edge of the woods, looking out at what looked like two children – one with blond hair, one with dark blue hair – in the middle of what seemed like wrestling. They were grappling and rolling around, growling ferally, while two fox kits sat side by side, watching the two combatants and yipping repeatedly.

Dog glanced over at the Hokage. "They've been like this since before we got here. It looks like… two dogs play fighting."

The Hokage nodded, before pausing for a moment. "You three stay out of sight. If you go out there, Naruto may get frightened. He knows me though, so…" After getting nods of assent from his ANBU, the Hokage jumped down to the ground and walked out into the open. He stopped several feet away from the brawlers, behind the foxes. After several moments, the darker of the two foxes tensed up, then looked over its shoulder at the Hokage before turning back to the wrestling pair and yipping several times. This seemed to cause the two combatants to freeze and disengage.

As one, the two turned to look at the Hokage, who took in their appearances. _'Is that an unmarked Hyūga?'_

"Old man!" Naruto exclaimed with a slight growl in his voice, dashing towards the Hokage on all fours, before standing up and losing his more animalistic features.

"Naruto?" the Hokage asked, slightly confused. "What are you doing out here?"

Naruto began to explain, but was interrupted by Kurama. _"You can tell the Hokage, but ask him to send the other ninja nearby away."_ Naruto did, and the Hokage, after a moment of indecision, relented and signaled for his ANBU to leave. Naruto then told the Hokage of all that had happened to him on and after his birthday, with the occasional assistance from Kurama.

After listening to the full explanation, the Hokage said, "Naruto, you do know that this… Kurama is actually the Nine-Tailed Fox, right?" Naruto nodded. "The Fox, in addition to being a fox, is a demon, Naruto. It may be trying to manipulate you into releasing it."

Naruto was about to come to Kurama's defense, but was interrupted. _"Naruto, let me have control for a moment so I can talk to him."_ Naruto agreed, and closed his eyes. When they opened again, the irises were red and the pupils were slits. Kurama introduced himself to the Hokage and then went on to explain how, in every case, Kurama was under a genjutsu that heavily influenced his thinking. In most cases, he said, he could care less about humans in general, but he has been trapped in Naruto and has grown fond of the boy.

The Hokage, after hearing this, said, "That's a lot to think about… Can Naruto hear me?"

Naruto blinked and his eyes returned to their normal blue color. "I could hear you, but Kurama-sensei says he's finished now."

The Hokage nodded. "Well, Naruto, I'll trust Kurama for the time being, but if he tells you to do anything that seems suspicious, you come find me. Okay?" He got an "Okay, old man" from Naruto. He turned to Hinata. "That goes for you, too, Hinata. Anything at all that seems suspicious." She nodded meekly. The Hokage sighed. "Well, since it's been a week and I've heard nothing from the Hyūga about a missing heiress, then I'll let you two stay together. I'll be doubling your allowance so that you can cover anything the two of you might need." The two kids nodded. "Okay, I'll try to start coming around more often, but I don't know how much I'll be able to. You know, Naruto, that I have a lot of work to do as the Hokage." He got two more nods. "Well, while I have time now let's see what you can do so far."

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I know it's pretty short, but this is where the chapter ended. It's not my fault.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: My proofreader brought something to my attention about the last chapter, and I want to clear it up. I just wanted to make sure that no one thought that Naruto was mad at the Hokage, he growled because of his Feral Jutsu. That is all.**

* * *

"Good morning, Naruto, Hinata, Tsumi, Kimaru!" the Hokage called out to the group he was approaching. Hearing the call, the four disengaged from their taijutsu spar.

Naruto and Tsumi quickly ran over, with a shout of "Gramps!" from Naruto and a responding yip from Tsumi. In the two years since he had met Kurama, Naruto had changed dramatically. He had grown from a rather short five year-old into an average seven year-old, standing at a good four feet tall, due to normal growth and a healthier diet. His new diet, along with his nearly constant training, also allowed him to bulk up significantly, his thin, nearly malnourished frame changing into forming lean muscle. His hair was still unruly; although it was a little longer, it was still just as untamable. Due to his Joining, Naruto had two tufts of hair that looked like two fox ears, a diamond-shaped patch of fur that was the same orange as Tsumi's fur near his forehead, slightly elongated pupils and canines, and whisker marks. Normally, he would wear basic t-shirts, shorts, and ninja sandals.

Tsumi, on the other hand, changed very little. She had grown to be four feet long from nose to tail tip, and the only other change was that she now had a diamond-shaped patch of blonde fur on her chest.

Hinata and Kimaru followed along at a more sedate pace, both stopping a ways off and bowing slightly, Hinata saying, "Lord Hokage." Hinata hadn't changed as much, still below average in height, now standing at three-foot-ten. She, too, had begun to develop muscle, but hers was even less noticeable than Naruto's. She had grown her hair out to be about shoulder length, and wore it in a ponytail, and, having spent less time on it, it had a more casual, wild look to it. She had the same tufts on her head as Naruto and the same patch of hair near her hairline, black in the center and dark orange at the edges, the same colors as Kimaru. She had formed slightly noticeable elongated pupils in her Byakugan eyes, elongate canines, and whisker marks. Hinata had also taken to wearing basic shorts, t-shirts, and ninja sandals.

Kimaru had also changed very little. He was now four and a half feet long from nose to tail tip, and had also gained a patch of dark blue fur, Hinata's hair color, on his chest and eyes the same color as Hinata, only with a distinct slit pupil.

The Hokage smiled almost wearily at Hinata and Kimaru. "I've told you many times already, you don't have to be so respectful when we're in private."

Hinata nodded and smiled, and she and Kimaru ran up beside Naruto and Tsumi. "So, Gramps," Naruto began. "What brings you here today? Aren't you usually doing most of your weekly paperwork today?" The Hokage had fallen into a sort of routine in the past four or so months since he'd regained his free time. About six months ago, it had come to his attention that the civilian council had been using paperwork to work him into weariness and compliance in order to do things to increase their power and he had set about reversing that. It had taken him nearly two months to do so in a way that had no loop holes for the council to exploit, and after that, he gained a lot of free time, enough to be able to spend a substantial amount of time with Naruto, Hinata, Kimaru, and Tsumi, and had grown to see them as his own grandchildren. He still hadn't heard anything from the Hyūga clan about a missing heiress, but Hinata seemed happy and Naruto had a friend, so he wasn't pushing it.

"Well, Naruto, I was doing my paper work for the week and was filling out the forms to get you two into the ninja academy next year when I realized that I hadn't actually asked if you two wanted to go to the academy or not, so I came by to ask, and thought we might also take an early lunch."

Naruto nodded, his face turning slightly more serious. "We were actually talking about this the other day, and Kurama-sensei had a suggestion." The Hokage nodded, motioning for him to continue. "We all know that I'm not well liked." That got a sad nod in response. "And we also know that if the Hyūga catch wind of Hinata we'll be in trouble." Another nod. "Well, Kurama-sensei suggested that we go to the academy under Fox Style: Transformations with fake names. We were actually going to come talk to you about it tomorrow, when you do your audiences."

After a moment of thought, the Hokage nodded. "That's a good idea. Let's talk about this more over lunch."

* * *

"Ino Yamanaka?" a tan young man with dark hair in a ponytail and a scar across his nose, wearing the standard chunin uniform, standing at the front of a classroom, called out, taking roll call. He heard a "Here" from a blonde haired girl wearing purple who was sitting in the center of the room and continued. "Himawari?"

Said girl was sitting in the last row of the classroom, in the corner. She had auburn hair pulled into a ponytail and dark green eyes, and was wearing a subdued red shirt, light gray shorts, and black ninja sandals. She also had whisker marks, ear-like hair tufts, slightly elongated pupils, elongated canines, and a fox sitting next to her.

This was Hinata.

"U-um, here!" While her confidence had grown since she had met Naruto, being in an unfamiliar environment brought back a little bit of her stutter.

"Uzumaru?" the teacher continued.

Sitting next to Himawari, said boy perked up. He had black spiky hair and dark brown eyes, and was wearing a dark orange shirt, black shorts, and black ninja sandals. He also had whisker marks, ear-like hair tufts, slightly elongated pupils, elongated canines, and a fox sitting next to him.

This was Naruto.

"I'm here!"

The teacher nodded. "Good, everyone is here today and on time, too," he muttered. He then continued in a louder voice. "Good morning class, my name is Iruka Umino, you can call me Iruka-sensei. Welcome to the first day of your ninja careers. I hope to learn all of your names before too long has passed, but this is my first time as head instructor, so please bear with me. I will be with you for the next five years, or until you graduate, whichever comes first. Today, we will take the morning to test everyone's skills to see where you are at and how I can best teach you, and then after lunch, we will be doing various trust and friendship exercises. Now come with me outside to the academy training grounds so we can start."

* * *

"I'm so glad that Fox Style: Transformation is such a simple jutsu." Naruto and Hinata were sitting outside in one of the academy training grounds, leaning against a tree, eating lunch. Kimaru and Tsumi were also curled up next to them, each chewing on a piece of jerky. Naruto continued, "It's easy to learn, if you're a fox, you don't have to constantly concentrate on it, and it hardly takes any chakra at all for simple color changes, like we're doing."

Hinata nodded. "Yeah, and it's an actual physical transformation, not an illusion like the academy Transformation."

They finished eating in short order, thinking about how easy the skills assessment had been. After they ate, they took a moment to glance around at the other students to see one staring at them intently, one Kiba Inuzuka if they remembered correctly. They glanced at each other and were about to discuss this new development when the door to the academy opened and Iruka stepped outside. "Okay class, time to come back inside."

* * *

Two weeks into the year, the academy held the first student versus student spars. Up until that point the students had been tested against their chunin instructor.

Iruka was standing outside the main sparing circle in the academy training ground. "Uzumaru versus Kiba Inuzuka."

Naruto had started the year soundly at the top of his class in taijutsu, with Hinata coming in a close second. Kiba, however, had started in third, but quickly dropped to fourth, something he was not happy about.

Naruto and Kiba took their places opposite each other in the circle and formed the Sign of Confrontation, as was customary.

"I've been watching you," Kiba began, as soon as Iruka began the spar. "You and that girl you're always with." Naruto and Hinata had noticed this and discussed this among themselves, but had yet to come up with a plausible explanation. "I know that you aren't Inuzuka, and you aren't from one of our branch clans, none of them use foxes, so how can you use our jutsu?"

Naruto's intelligent response? "What?"

Kiba growled slightly. "When Inuzukas are taught taijutsu, they're taught the Imitation Beast Ninja Art: Four Legs Jutsu. It's a secret Inuzuka technique, but every time you and Himawari use taijutsu, you use it! How?"

"Um," Naruto began, at a slight loss for words. "I had no idea we were?" Kiba scoffed. "In fact, I'm still not sure we are." This caused Kiba to scoff again. "How about this? You show me yours, and I'll show you mine, and we'll compare." Kiba looked a little hesitant, but agreed quickly, seeing no harm. "Okay, you first."

Kiba nodded, went through a few hand signs, said "Four Legs Jutsu!" and dropped to all fours, grinning at Naruto and showing off his elongated canines.

After a moment of contemplation, Naruto shook his head. "No that's not the same, the effects are similar, but the method is different." He then dropped to all fours and silently turned feral before baring his teeth at Kiba, letting him see his fangs.

"What makes you so sure?" Kiba growled.

Naruto shrugged, which looked weird in his position. "I'm _not_ sure, to tell you the truth, but I don't think it's the same." Kiba just growled again. "Why don't we stop talking and start sparring. Iruka-sensei seems to be getting impatient." When Kiba didn't respond, Naruto sighed. "Why don't we see which version is better, the Inuzuka's secret jutsu or my _completely original_ one?"

This finally got a response from Kiba, who grinned again and quickly jumped at Naruto, fangs and claws bared.

As Naruto dodged, Kurama's voice echoed through his head. _"Be careful, Naruto, this fight's important."_ Sensing confusion from the boy, he continued. _"Remember when the Hokage was telling us about the clans? He said the Inuzuka worked closely with dogs, similarly to you with Tsumi, and that they follow a pack mentality. When you mentioned proving which technique was better, you made this an Alpha fight. Whoever wins this fight will be the boss, at least to Kiba, until they are usurped. If you win, he will follow your decisions. If he wins, he'll expect you to follow his, and if you don't, there could be trouble."_

Naruto nodded. While that was being said, Naruto had only been paying enough attention to the fight to keep dodging and stay in the ring, which Kiba noticed. "Fight me, you idiot!"

Naruto, his full attention now back on the fight, grinned and almost immediately had Kiba grappled to the ground with his fangs to his throat. It took Kiba a moment to process what had happened, but when it did he paled and quickly surrendered.

* * *

Naruto and Kiba became something between friends and rivals after that. Kiba took just about every opportunity to challenge Naruto to be the alpha male, and lost every time. Outside of spars, however, Naruto and Kiba, along with Hinata, became good friends, at least while at school, and worked well together, Naruto almost always being the leader of their little skulk.

* * *

It had been six and a half months since they started the academy, and they returned from their summer break to notice that something was drastically different. First off, one of the most popular boys in the class, Sasuke Uchiha, who was ranked right behind Naruto and Hinata, wasn't there. He was normally one of the first ones there, every day, without fail. Secondly, the majority of the girls and some of the boys in the class were talking about one thing and one thing only: Sasuke Uchiha.

No one in the class seemed to know what exactly had happened, but _something_ had happened that involved the Uchiha clan, and everyone's parents, especially those not from a clan, had told their children to try to be as nice to Sasuke as possible and get him to like them.

Naruto and Hinata knew what had happened. The Hokage had visited them the week before, as normal, but looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep. When asked about it, he sighed and said that Itachi Uchiha had gone crazy and killed his entire clan, except for his little brother Sasuke, and that Sasuke was still in the hospital in shock from what he had seen. He then told them to make Sasuke feel welcome if they could, because he went from being the son of a large and prominent clan to an orphan over the course of a few hours, and would need the comfort of friends. They agreed, both knowing what it felt like to be lonely and the comfort that having someone save you from that loneliness could bring.

It was another week before Sasuke came back to the academy, and he seemed very different. Before the Uchiha Massacre, as it had become known, he was a relatively calm and quiet, but friendly, boy. After he came back, however, he became very dark and arrogant, ignoring most people and insulting or belittling those he didn't. After a few days, it became painfully obvious that any attempts to befriend Sasuke would be effectively pointless.

Unless you were a fan girl, in which case you thought he was cool and playing hard to get.

After the Massacre, many parents of young kunoichi-in-training greatly encouraged their daughters to pursue 'The Last Uchiha' as a romantic interest, and many took it too far.

The fan girls quickly became the bane of both Sasuke's existence, and those of those with advanced hearing: Naruto, Hinata, Kimaru, Tsumi, and Kiba.


End file.
